Bill requiring joint school and city elections in Iowa sent to Branstad

Iowa's city and school elections would be held on the same day under a bill that received final approval Thursday from the Iowa Senate, sending the measure to Gov. Terry Branstad.

House File 566  passed on a 36-13 Senate vote. The measure establishes school and city elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November during odd-numbered years.

Poor turnout in school elections has been a longstanding concern throughout Iowa. According to the Secretary of State’s Office, in the last four school elections, the voter turnout average was 6.5 percent. In contrast, the average voter turnout for city elections in that same time frame was 21.3 percent.

The legislation is intended to increase voter participation while reducing taxpayers' costs. But some lawmakers said they are concerned about possible confusion among voters and poll workers because the district boundaries for city council posts and school board seats are often different.

Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, said he had discussed the election changes with county auditors who told him they aren't ready to combine city and school elections.

"I am going to focus on rural Iowa, and I see a lot of problems," Bowman said.

But Sen. Waylon Brown, R-St. Ansgar, the bill's floor manager, noted that the legislation would not combine the administration of city and school elections until July 1, 2019. He said that time frame will be sufficient to iron out any issues that arise.

According to the Legislative Services Agency, the assumptions for implementation include the use of specialized Geographic Information Systems mapping work, and that modifications will be required for statewide voter registration software and poll books.

When two elections are combined into one, the scope of the combined election will be larger; therefore, the cost savings will vary and may not be realized by every jurisdiction, state analysts said. In addition, cities may realize cost savings because they are already paying for large-scale elections and will now be sharing some of those costs with schools and community colleges. Schools and community colleges may not see as much savings, if any, since they will now be paying for portions of large-scale elections with more precincts, longer hours, and more ballot styles, according to the Legislative Services Agency.

State analysts said the one-time fiscal impact to the secretary of state’s office for programming and GIS costs is estimated to be $50,000. The impact of combining voting precincts cannot be determined until the GIS work is completed, analysts reported.

Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, urged support for the legislation, saying it's a common-sense solution to address lower turnout by voters in school elections. He was joined by Sen. Thomas Greene, R-Burlington, a former school board member, who said the cost per vote for administration for school races can be large because of low numbers of people casting ballots.

Chelgren remarked, "This says that we have one less date to remember and we have more participation in the process."

The Iowa Association of School Boards and the Iowa State Education Association are registered against the bill, while the Iowa League of Cities is undecided. The Iowa State Association of Counties supports the legislation..